CONGRATULATIONS to everyone at Wrexham for winning promotion back to the Second Division at the first time of asking.

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone at Wrexham for winning promotion back to the Second Division at the first time of asking.

No-one could have asked for a more impressive finale than for the Dragons to win their last two home games 6-1 against Carlisle United and 5-0 against Cambridge to clinch that third automtic spot and I'm delighted for so many people at the club.

It must have been quite an atmosphere on Saturday with almost 10,000 fans in the ground and when I telephoned Jim Whitley after the game he said the whole town was buzzing.

I can't say I'm surprised that Wrexham were promoted because they have plenty going for them as they look forward to next season.

The stadium warrants a higher standard of football and, with the likes of Sheffield Wednesday in the Second Division next season, they can look forward to much bigger crowds.

On top of that there is a lot of quality in Denis Smith's squad and the next step is for the club to try to keep the players they've got, while also looking to add to the numbers.

If they manage that, they could do well again next season and I hope that their success will encourage more fans to watch them than was the case this year.

The attendances at the last couple of games have certainly demonstrated the potential is there but the club has to play its part in encouraging them to go along on a more regular basis.

I wasn't surprised either to see that striker Andy Morrell, together with Carlos Edwards, was named in the Third Division team of the year at the PFA awards on Sunday. Both of them have had a fantastic run of form and I hope it continues for a long time.

If you thought the atmosphere was great at the Racecourse on Saturday, imagine what it must have been like at Old Trafford last Wednesday for the Manchester United v Real Madrid Champions League clash.

I felt desperately sorry for United because I thought they were unlucky not to win. If it hadn't been for the Real goal-keeper Casillas they might have had six or seven.

They certainly put far more shots on target than the opposition but only scored four goals. Madrid, by comparison, probably had only four chances and scored three.

But it was a superb match and a great advertisement for the game of football. It's not often that you see two strikers of the quality of Ronaldo and van Nistelrooy on the same pitch and, for me, along with Thierry Henry at Arsenal, they are the best in the world at the moment.

So it was all the more puzzling to me that David Beckham started on the bench. Here is another world-class player, who doesn't have anything left to prove to anyone, and he demonstrated just what a great player he is when he finally got into the action.

Sure, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has been in scintillating form in recent weeks and would not have deserved to have been left out, but if it's a question between Beckham and Juan Sebastian Veron in the centre of midfield, I know who I'd have gone for.

I don't what the ins-and-outs of it are at Old Trafford at the moment but something is obviously wrong when Beckham is a substitute in United's two biggest games of the season, against Arsenal and Real Madrid.

And when he came on last Wednesday he delivered, as he always does when the heat is on. His free-kick was magnificent given the pressure he was under to produce that extra bit of magic at such a critical stage of the game. But he's done it before for England so I wasn't surprised when he scored.

Naturally enough all the speculation now is about whether he stays at Manchester United when the season comes to an end. My own feeling is that he does not want a move because the club means so much to him but, as I've just said, something is not right if he's not being picked.

He was back in the side for Sunday's game against Tottenham and he had a great game. And that's what you get from fantastic players like him.